Melodeow



TED STATES PATENT OFFICEe YILLIAM EVANS, OF LOGKPORT, ILLINOIS.

MELODEON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,501, dated June 9, 1857.

T o all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, VILLL-iiu EVANS, -of Lockport, in the county of lilland State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inMelodeons; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of those parts of theinstrument which require to be shown to illustrate my. invention. Fig. 2is a plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

This invention relates to melodeons in which the exhaustion bellows isused.

It consists in arranging the swell to close by a movement upward or awayfrom the reed tubes instead of by a movement downward or toward the reedtubes.

By this new arrangement and mode of operation several very importantresults are eifected as will be hereinafter explained. l will firsthowever describe with reference to the drawings the manner in which theinvention is applied.

A. is the reed board; (a.) one of the reed tubes; (o) one of the reeds;and B the reflecting board, all of which occupy the same positions as inthe melodeons with exhausting bellows now in general use.

C is the swell hinged in the usual manner to the back edge of the reedboard A.

D is the stop on the retiecting board B, against the under side of whichthe swell closes with an upward movement7 the said under side beingplaced rather higher than the top of the reed board, and being facedwith velvet so that the swell may tit tightly against it.

(c) is the spring by which the swell is closed consisting of a piece offiat steel similar to clock spring secured to the top of the reed boardby a screw (d), and passing through the hinge of the swell and bearingagainst the under side of the same.

E, E, are two levers by whose agency the swell is opened, the former E,which is of the second order, being arranged close to one side of thecase on a fulcrum pin (e) and resting on an arm (f) attached to one endof the swell, and the latter F which is of the first order, beingarranged close to the back of the case on a fulcrum pin (g) with one endresting on the rear end of E and the other end connected with a treadlethat is not shown.

The swell when arranged as above described to close upward enlarges thechamber formed between itself and the reeds as it closes instead ofdiminishing it as it does' when it closes downward upon the board G inthe old way and it opens with the current of air instead of inopposition to it.

By the old arrangement when the swell is closed the tone of the lower orlarge reeds is considerably flattened while that of the higher orsmaller ones is less so, as that part of the chamber opposite thesmallei reeds is not diminished so much in proportion to the size of itsreeds and tubes as the part opposite the larger ones, and hence when theswell is closed the instrument is out of tune`r the lower notes beingtoo tlat for the higher ones. This is not the case, or at any rate notperceptibly so, when the swell closes upward and enlarges the chamber,but the instrument will produce the softest tones possible and stillremain in tune. ln fact with my arrangement of the swell the characterof the tone of the instrument is different to that of melodeonsgenerally and more like that of the open diapason i of the organ. Thetone is rich and mellow and extremely soft when the swell is closed, andwhen the swell is open the tone is very full but still as deep andmellow as when it as closed. while in melodeons with the old arrangementof the swell. the tone is more piercing and harsh when the swell is openthan when it is closed. Another result obtained by my arrangement of theswell is that the tone of the treble reed does not tremble with themovement of the left hand on the bass keys when the swell is closed asit does with the old arrangement. Again my arrangement affords facilityfor getting at the reeds to remove any dirt that may interfere withtheir vibration, or to examine, repair or tune them, by lttingthereflecting board to drop into two grooves (fr), one of which is shown inFig. 2, where a part of the said board is omitted for the purpose, thelifting up of the board B out of its place, with the stop piece Dagainst which the swell closes attached, exposes all the reeds to viewthe swell being already raised out of the way.

which the swell closes, attached to the re- 1o fleeting board so as tobe removed therewith to leave the reeds exposed as herein described.

WILLIAM EVANS.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. DAGGETT, WM. GooDRING.

